Greg Bauch's Blog

I Don't Hate Everybody

I've been told that I hate everybody. I don't hate everybody, only Sally Field and people who turn to the camera from their seat at a sporting event and wave like an 8-year old.

Unless they're an 8-years old. That is fine.

This is nothing new. You're watching a hockey game and a fan in the crowd will be aware of where the cameras are pointed on the ice and take the opportunity to turn and wave to get on television. In most cases, that person has a cell phone in hand so their loved ones at home can be notified of their big moment. If my loved one called me from their phone and told me to turn on MSG because they're about to wave to me from their seat at the hockey game, I'd hang up on them and find new loved ones.

This is not a crime. I'm pretty sure though that, if my Dad dropped a couple hundred dollars for tickets to a hockey game and his son spent time waving to the camera and not paying attention to the game, it would have been the last hockey game he paid for me to attend.

You're probably saying, "Greg, why don't you just ignore these people and watch the game. Aren't you being a hypocrite? You're ignoring the game to take time to hate strangers." It's a valid point but, once I start hating something, I can't ignore it. The hate festers into my brain like a ferret. I spend the whole game anticipating that, when the camera hits that corner of the arena again, that idiot is going to turn around with their 'Hi Drew' sign and wave again.

I'm not a good person and I'm not emotionally stable when it comes to hating petty things that most people are capable of ignoring.

And I know what you're thinking, "Greg, aren't their worst things to hate like personalized license plates and the Carolina Hurricanes?" That's a good point. I'll get to hating everything else later. Right now, I hate people who turn to the camera from their seat at a hockey game and wave.

And, you're probably thinking, "So, Big Shot AM radio producer, what the hell are you going to do about it?" Well, there's not really anything I can do. I'm not even asking people to stop waving to the camera. I'll just sit and home and get an ulcer from hating them. It's my lot in life.

And now, you're all like, "Greg, you're kind of a jerk. I might wave to cameras but who are you to judge me? Do you think you're perfect? Haven't you ever done something wrong before?"

I have. Do you know how TV channels put their logo in the corner of the screen so you know what channel you're watching? When I used to work overnights at the WB, I used to call my wife at 3 o'clock in the morning and tell her to turn on the WB so I could turn that logo on and off as a way to say 'Hi'.

It's basically the same thing as turning to the camera to wave at a hockey game, except I was ignoring re-runs of Moesha, not live NHL hockey. I also fell asleep once and the tape airing the episode of Moesha got to the end. So, anyone watching the WB that night saw the end of Moesha, then 30 seconds of color bars, then the tape rewind on the air, then the same episode of Moesha played 3 straight times.